<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Hardware performance Supermicro 5018A-FTN4]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p dir="auto">Hi Guys,</p>
<p dir="auto">For a medium business, I would like to know, if this supermicro 5018A-FTN4 with 8 GB DDR3 and 2 RAID 1 WD black 2,5" would be enough.<br />
The supermicro MB has 4 ethernet ports + I take an additional four ports Intel NIC.<br />
We have three WAN lines, two ADSL 10 mbits/s and a SDSL one 4mbits.<br />
70 permanents users on the SDSL one, with a squid proxy.<br />
A captive portal on another adsl line with ip 100 to 150 users but not every day.<br />
The last ADSL line has no captive portal for the moment, but sometimes 100 to 150 users too.<br />
And I think to a fourth WAN ports for a public DMZ for a web server and Edge Exchange 2010 server.<br />
For every WAN, I want a LAN port as in my networks, I have several VLAN, but not managed by pfsense.<br />
I want use VPN too on ths SDSL line up to 20 users.</p>
<p dir="auto">My question is :<br />
Is CPU 2758 8 cores is enough ?<br />
Is 8 GB is enough ?<br />
Is WD 320 GB harddrive i senough or is it preferable to use SSD  ?</p>
<p dir="auto">Thanks</p>
]]></description><link>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/92006/hardware-performance-supermicro-5018a-ftn4</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 04:34:39 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://forum.netgate.com/topic/92006.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2015 13:38:01 GMT</pubDate><ttl>60</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Reply to Hardware performance Supermicro 5018A-FTN4 on Wed, 25 Nov 2015 14:52:29 GMT]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p dir="auto">:)<br />
Thanks for your advice.<br />
I have a quote for the 2758 + 16 GB RAM + 1 SSD Intel 240GB + a 4 ports LAN card , but the D1540 is almost twice the price.<br />
So I will see in the next days what I do.  :'(</p>
]]></description><link>https://forum.netgate.com/post/586545</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://forum.netgate.com/post/586545</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[herf]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2015 14:52:29 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reply to Hardware performance Supermicro 5018A-FTN4 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015 01:47:21 GMT]]></title><description><![CDATA[<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">When I say a medium business, I think to something like a medium-sized enterprise with 100 to 200 people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Together with many installed packages and services it could be that the C2758 will be underperformed.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">So I am OK with the memory (16 GB is great),</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">This all depends on how many simultaneous connections you'll have, and what packages if any you'll run.<br />
The packet filter, the IP forwarding parts, and even NAT (part of pf, but run at a different phase) all hit<br />
the memory system. It's likely not that your CPU can't keep up, it's that your memory system is saturated.<br />
So much more RAM as usual might be better in this case with floating users, VLANs, WiFi client isolations<br />
and Squid + the Captive Portal.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">and with the SSD too, as I thought to use 2 256 GB SSD in RAID1.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">I would be prefer one big SSD over a RAID1, it will be faster then the RAID level and with much more<br />
ease to change if a damage occurs.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">But I am disappointed with the processor, as I thought it was powerful.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">This could be, but then you will need not to connect to your ISP or the Internet connection through<br />
pppoe, you will be needing a static IP address that all CPU core should work on the WAN port and<br />
not only one CPU Core alone!</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">In the pfsense store, it's the same CPU Atom C2758 8 cores on the pfsense C2758, and they said "great for medium to large networks or for a small network that is expanding."</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Yes. this could be, because it was tuned and pimped up by the developer team and you might be not able<br />
to reach this level as you will do the same job for your own pfSense box for sure! But also this version of<br />
pfSense will be not able to use more then one CPU core only for the WAN port part.</p>
]]></description><link>https://forum.netgate.com/post/585622</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://forum.netgate.com/post/585622</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[[[global:guest]]]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2015 01:47:21 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reply to Hardware performance Supermicro 5018A-FTN4 on Sat, 21 Nov 2015 20:29:40 GMT]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p dir="auto">Thanks you very much for your response.<br />
When I say a medium business, I think to something like a medium-sized  enterprise with 100 to 200 people.<br />
But where I work, it is a training center with sometimes up to 200 -300 people who need to be connected, and with 70 permanent workers, always connected with a desktop PC and sometimes one mobile device, so you can imagine the number of connections.<br />
And now I have to add a web server, and a mail server in a DMZ.<br />
So I am OK with the memory (16 GB is great), and with the SSD too, as I thought to use 2 256 GB SSD in RAID1.<br />
But I am disappointed with the processor, as I thought it was powerful.<br />
In the pfsense store, it's the same CPU Atom C2758 8 cores on the pfsense C2758, and they said "great for medium to large networks or for a small network that is expanding."</p>
]]></description><link>https://forum.netgate.com/post/585580</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://forum.netgate.com/post/585580</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[herf]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2015 20:29:40 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reply to Hardware performance Supermicro 5018A-FTN4 on Sat, 21 Nov 2015 17:52:50 GMT]]></title><description><![CDATA[<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">For a medium business,</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">What is a medium business, please? Is this a coffee bar or a big shopping mall or what is it really?</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">if this supermicro 5018A-FTN4 with 8 GB DDR3 and 2 RAID 1 WD black 2,5" would be enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">I would more have a look to an Intel Xeon D-1540 or Xeon E3-12xx v3 system that comes sorted around with<br />
~8 GB - ~16 GB RAM and a big SSD. So you would be able to get higher CPU core frequency and a higher RAM<br />
clock frequency, perhaps something likes;</p>
<ul>
<li>Intel Xeon E3-12xxv3 4 Cores @3,4GHz - 3,6GHz</li>
<li>8 GB - 16 GB of DDR3 1600MHz or 1866MHz</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">70 permanents users on the SDSL one, with a squid proxy.<br />
A captive portal on another adsl line with ip 100 to 150 users but not every day.<br />
The last ADSL line has no captive portal for the moment, but sometimes 100 to 150 users too.</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Squid proxy = SSD that is big enough if you want to use it as a caching proxy</li>
<li>Captive Portal would be not the problem at all, but pending on the number of users a 4 Core CPU</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">And I think to a fourth WAN ports for a public DMZ for a web server and Edge Exchange 2010 server.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Then perhaps a policy based "Load Balancing" set up would be the best to handle this WAN ports right.</p>
<ul>
<li>policy based load balancing</li>
<li>service based load balancing</li>
<li>session based load balancing</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">For every WAN, I want a LAN port as in my networks,…</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">This can be easily realized by adding a 4 Port Chelsio server adapter from the pfSense shop</p>
<ul>
<li>it is able to fully offload the NAT process from the pfSense</li>
<li>it is able to fully offload the VLAN process from the pfSense also.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">I have several VLAN, but not managed by pfsense.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">I prefer this method also, but in sometimes it could be wise to manage this by the pfSense<br />
if a DMZ is also in the game might be perhaps a situation like this.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">I want use VPN too on ths SDSL line up to 20 users.</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">The Xeon E3-12xxv3 is capable to handle this with ease and comes with AES-NI support too.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">My question is :<br />
Is CPU 2758 8 cores is enough ?</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Others might be having a different meaning, but I would prefer something stronger<br />
likes the Intel Xeon D-1540 or Intel Xeon E3-12xxv3 4 Core starting @3,0GHz upstairs!</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Is 8 GB is enough ?</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">RAM is a point many peoples would be also having a dedicated view on then me,<br />
if RAM is cheap to get and can solve many things out, likes increasing the mbufs<br />
size and on top speeding many tasks up if fast RAM is used, and so 16 GB would<br />
not be wasting because the default RAM usage of the Squid and the mbufs size can<br />
be easily increased to tune this pfSense set up.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Is WD 320 GB harddrive i senough or is it preferable to use SSD  ?</p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto">Go with an SSD or mSATA instead of other drives, and if you wnat to use the Squid as a caching proxy<br />
it is nearly a must be to use one, a great one from 128 GB or 256 GB might be the best option, because<br />
then the wear leveling algorithm is able to use many free blocks for a longer live time and also a bigger<br />
part of the SSD would be used as the cache for the entire SSD or mSATA.<br />
In normal or the most vendors of SSDs, but not all, are using a way likes this.</p>
<ul>
<li>32 GB SSD/mSATA = 4 GB cache</li>
<li>64 GB SSD/mSATA = 8 GB cache</li>
<li>128 GB SSD/mSATA = 16 GB cache</li>
<li>256 GB SSD/mSATA = 32 GB cache</li>
<li>512 GB SSD/mSATA = 64 GB cache</li>
</ul>
<p dir="auto">So more free blocks to be use means also a theoretical longer lifetime for the entire device and<br />
also to use more cache to be faster as smaller ones.</p>
<p dir="auto">For pppoe at this moment only one CPU core is used for the entire WAN area and then with 4 WAN ports<br />
and VPN usage on top you will be perhaps not glad with an Intel Atom processor for your set up.</p>
]]></description><link>https://forum.netgate.com/post/585523</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://forum.netgate.com/post/585523</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[[[global:guest]]]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2015 17:52:50 GMT</pubDate></item></channel></rss>